Which ways can a virus inject itself into its target?

Answer 1

Computer Viruses are either 'attached' to an email - or hidden on a CD-ROM or floppy disk. When someone opens the email or inserts a disk without scanning it - the virus has a chance to infect the new computer.

Answer 2

No expert, but here is what i know.

1: By files that you downloaded.

2: Ads that are on a website

3: Your emails. That is why some email websites block attachments.

4: Programs that almost every computer has, like adobe, internet Explorer, etc.

5: torrents.

Here are some tips, do not use The Pirate Bay. There ads are filled with Malware. If you computer starts running slow, or it starts acting crazy, install anti-spyware or anti-malware. I think AVG is the best out of all the ones that i have used.

Answer 3

Here are some of the ways a virus might attach to a target:

1. The Master Boot Record - This is a bit of executable code near the very beginning of a diskette, hard drive or other medium. If you boot off of an infected disk, it could infect the rest of your system. The virus would then load before the operating system.

2. Infected executable files or trojans - If you run an infected executable or a trojan horse, the virus is then loaded into your system, and then other executable files become infected. Trojans are files that seem to be useful or entertaining software, and a user may be tricked into running them. They might get an email, "Check out my cool screensaver! Click here!" And the recipient downloads and installs it. Or a site may tell you your plugins are out of date and that you should click to update them. And you accept the prompts and not know you are installing a fake version of Flash, Shockwave, Java, etc.

3. Companion files - What happens is that a virus tampers with directories or archives, renames the main executable, and drops a copy of the virus which has the original name of the file that was renamed. The virus file loads and then runs the renamed file, and the user might not notice this. So if a file hosting site is infected and the virus tampers with the archives intended for distribution, then you may download tampered archive files, extract them, and run the virus while intending to just run whatever program.

4. Drive-by downloads - Then is when a site you visit somehow forces your browser to download it. You might be prompted to install it. Or something is saved to your desktop and later, you get curious and run it. This is less common these days.

5. Infected firmware - This can be scary. A few memory sticks may have infected controller code. So it isn't so much that the media is infected or that you have any infected files on it, but that the stick itself is infected. This supposedly has been done with printers as well, where infected firmware gets loaded from the device.

Answer 4

For starters, no expert here, but if you go to a website that's infected. Or you open email that's infected. Then your PC starts doing weird stuff, right?

Answer 5

Two ways a virus can inject itself into a target is via SQL Injection if it's a website and Flash injection.

Answer 6

Drive by downloads - you go on a web page and it silently downloads anything from adverts to malware , also misleading applications which you get persuaded to download and there dodgy.